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Draft of summit conclusions says EU ready to double aid to €6bn, as leaders discuss plan to resettle one Syrian refugee in Europe for every Syrian returned to Turkey from Greek islands

The EU draft proposal released at the Turkey-EU summit said the 28- nation bloc would double the amount of money it had offered to Ankara help Syrian refugees and to take in Syrians directly from Turkey. It also said the EU would ease visa requirements for Turks who want to visit the Schengen area by the end of June.

Turkey has requested additional € 3 billion ($3.31bn) to add to the original 3 billion the European Union had already promised to help it tackle the refugee crisis, Martin Schulz, the President of the European Parliament, said during a press briefing in Brussels.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told EU leaders Ankara was willing to take back all migrants coming from Turkey from a set date who are denied asylum in Europe, as well as those intercepted in its territorial waters, diplomats said.

In response, the EU leaders were considering his request to double their funding until 2018 to help Syrian refugees stay in Turkey and take in one Syrian refugee directly from Turkey for each one Turkey takes back from Greece’s Aegean islands, overrun by migrants, according to a draft document seen by Reuters.

“In the joint action plan, the most important thing is to help Turkey bear the burden, responsibility by taking people … not in the thousands or tens of thousands but in the hundreds of thousands,” the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said during an event at the Geneva Graduate Institute.

Turkey has given shelter to almost 3 million refugees, while almost 363,000 Syrians claimed asylum in Europe last year. Up to 2,000 refugees are arriving on Greek shores every day, many from Syria, as well as Iraq and Afghanistan.

Davutoğlu also promised to tackle people smuggling: “With these new proposals we aim to rescue refugees, discourage those who misuse and exploit their situation and find a new era in Turkey-EU relations.”

Ahead of the summit, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said his country had already spent $10bn (£7bn) helping those living in Turkey who have fled the war in Syria.

Germany, among the 28-nation bloc, has been the strongest voice for cooperation with Turkey and considers it vital for saving the Schengen zone from danger. German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she expects “difficult negotiations” at the summit along with being hopeful about moving forward.

Austrian Vice-Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner highlighted the tough mood in central Europe when asked whether the EU should use force to close its frontiers to migrants.

“If necessary we must set such an example to show that a border is really a border. Naturally we should be careful to use means that do not endanger lives,” he said in an ATV interview.

Turkey requests visa-free travel to the EU by end of June 2016

He told European leaders Turkey wanted more for its citizens in exchange for helping the EU. He called for visa liberalization for 75 million Turks by 1 June, an advance on the October deadline proposed last year, as well as re-starting Turkey’s long-stalled EU accession talks.

According to reports, the EU’s draft proposal also includes lifting of the visa restrictions on Turkish citizens by the end of June. In return, Turkey will take all irregular migrants from Greece, including Syrians, while the EU will then admit directly from Turkey one Syrian refugee for every Syrian readmitted to Turkey from the Greek islands.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and the Prime Minister of Turkey, Ahmet Davutoglu

NATO Secretary General discusses instability on NATO’s southern borders with Turkish PM

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu met on Monday (7 March 2016) to discuss the conflict and instability on NATO’s southern borders. Mr. Stoltenberg thanked Turkey for its efforts to tackle the current refugee and migrant crisis and stressed that NATO stands in solidarity with Turkey.

The Secretary General underlined that Turkey is generously hosting more than two and a half million refugees and is “bearing the brunt of the greatest refugee and migrant crisis since the Second World War in Europe.” He also praised Turkey’s commitment to NATO’s surveillance deployment in the Aegean Sea.

“With these new proposals we aim to rescue refugees, discourage those who misuse and exploit their situation and find a new era in Turkey-EU relations,” Davutoglu said at a NATO news conference in Brussels.